Natural Air Freshener

The Why

I’m one of those people who thinks candles in a jar are the most awful smelling things on the planet. Before all of you who sell those wonderful PartyLight® candles come after me here’s why. I have massive allergies. I am allergic to different perfumes, chemicals, and soy so every time somebody says, “It’s natural it’s a soy candle.” Yeah it’ll just kill me so I don’t care for them either.

Whenever I walk into someone’s house and I can taste the smell of their candles in the air, it makes me physically ill. I get migraines and I have to leave. No one wants this for their guests that’s why I’m writing this today to share something my mom taught me years ago, because unfortunately she had to live with the chemically sensitive daughter (sorry Mom!)

The only thing this air freshener requires is a trip to your pantry or the grocery store it’s not expensive and it’s easy to do.

The How

There are two methods to give your home a yummy smell without chemical perfumes.

The first method: get a pan out of the cupboard and put some water in it (simple, simple, simple). Next find your favorite citrus fruit. It can be a lemon can be an orange (I always make my daughter eat a Cutie and then I do this) peel the fruit and put the peels in the water.

Next go to your spice cabinet and find a cinnamon stick. I load up after Christmas because they’re always on clearance at Target and you can get a ton of cinnamon sticks for very little money. This is all you really need but if you want to spice things up (pun totally intended) you can add cloves, Star Anais, all spice, cardamom, or even a vanilla bean if you happen to have one on hand. Then set the pot to simmer.

It won’t take long and your whole house will smell sweet. Just remember that you left this on the stove and check it to make sure the water hasn’t evaporated.

The second method: if you’re having a party and you want to be running to the kitchen ever few minutes to make sure your pot hasn’t boiled away, this is what I suggest. Go to the thrift store and find one of those small crockpots that everybody bought for dips, and nobody used, and now they’re at the thrift store for two dollars like the one I have in my picture here. Put the water in and your spices in. Turn it on high to warm things up and then shift it to low (you can boil it first and then put it in the crockpot if you forgot to start it early enough). Set the lid so it doesn’t completely cover the top and the aroma can escape.

You will still want to keep an eye on the water level throughout the day but not as often as when it’s on the stove.

Your whole house will smell fantastic, and you won’t make any guests sick or kill them. Win, win!